Tuesday open thread: What will the Detroit Lions’ record be in the final 3 games?

The Detroit Lions kept their playoff hopes alive on Sunday by beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-21. Having worked themselves into a position where they need to win all four of their final games in order to have a shot at the postseason, it was obviously a necessary win for Detroit.

Now with Week 14 completely in the books, the Lions have three more games ahead of them, and each one is as “must-win” as the next. In essence, the playoffs started last week for Detroit, and if they lose, they’re out.

Fortunately for the Lions, the outlook ahead is somewhat bright. Two of their remaining games are at home, two are against teams with losing records, and it’s quite possible that all three teams will be out of the playoff race by the time the Lions face them.

Here’s a look at their remaining three games:

• vs. Bears (4-9)
• at Bengals (5-8)
• vs. Packers (7-6)

So today’s Question of the Day is:

What will the Lions’ record in the final three games be?

My answer: 2-1. I don’t know where it will be, but I think the Lions are going to flub somewhere in these final three games.

To be honest, it could happen any week. Even this week, the Bears look a little scary after blowing out the Bengals 33-7 in Cincinnati. As we saw just a couple weeks ago, Chicago has the capabilities to run all over the Lions defense, and both Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen are coming off weeks in which they both ran for 80 yards and over 6.0 per carry.

The Bengals aren’t great at anything, but they aren’t terribly vulnerable anywhere either. We’ve seen the Lions play down to their opponents all year, and considering this game is being played outside in Ohio in December, weather could make this one a little wacky.

Then there’s the finale against the Packers, where Aaron Rodgers may be waiting. Though he has yet to be 100 percent medically cleared, it is expected that Rodgers would be available by Week 17. The question is whether Green Bay will still be in the playoff hunt. Like the Lions, they are currently in a must-win situation every week, but their path to perfection is much more difficult. They need to beat the Panthers on the road this week. Then they need to take down the division-leading Vikings the following week.

If Rodgers somehow navigates the team to two wins prior to the finale, I think Lions fans can probably kiss this one goodbye. But I seriously doubt Green Bay makes it that far.

So in the end, I think the Lions are just not good enough to run the table, even if they absolutely should. The one thing keeping me positive, however, is Jim Caldwell’s impeccable record against bad teams. If the trend holds true, Detroit should win the next two. But who knows what will happen in Week 17?

Your turn.